The Abbey celebrates five years of sobriety

Close to 1,000 people have been helped with their addictions at the Abbey Addiction Treatment Center in Bettendorf since it opened its doors in 2008.

“We get a lot of people from Dubuque, Burlington, Des Moines, and Iowa City. It’s a real chronic problem. About 30 million Americans suffer from addiction but there’s only about 30 thousand beds, so there’s an acute need’, said Abbey owner Joe Lemon Jr.

It was an entirely new use for the monastery turned hotel. When first proposed, neighbors protested the zoning change.

“In the end, however, cooler heads prevailed and we were able to persuade the Planning Commission and City Council to approve our new use”, Lemon said.